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My pet theory: Cities foster loneliness. The bigger the city, the worse it gets. You avoid eye contact with people. You assume anyone trying to talk to you want
by tqkxzugoaupvwqr 8y ago
My pet theory: Cities foster loneliness. The bigger the city, the worse it gets. You avoid eye contact with people. You assume anyone trying to talk to you wants money from you or sell you something. You are on your way somewhere, in a hurry, and have no time to chat. You want to chat but don’t want to bother anyone.
- mikeyouse 8y agoFor children especially, cities can be tough. You can't exactly "play" in your frontyard if you live on a busy street. There's less serendipity and unstructured play time when you have to go to a public park or another location to get together.
- smileysteve 8y agoThere was another hacker news article that has the opposite conclusions; Poor people in cities do play in their streets. But anecdotally, I know of families who live on a street where cars routinely go 45mph to get to the neighborhood inside a neighborhood, so can't play in the street in the suburbs.
- wahern 8y agoI visited Vancouver, BC recently, including a few days driving around. I was amazed at how slow people drove there. I mean, it's really only slow compared to the NASCAR driving typical across the U.S. But it was really enjoyable and much less stressful. I remember when Americans drove like that, before we rescinded the national 55mph cap. Over the past few decades things have gotten so bad here. Urban, suburban, and rural areas. Small neighborhoods and highways. Both coasts and everywhere in between. We just drive ridiculously fast. I think of all the roads I walked (to meet friends, to get to school, to play catch) in Illinois, Florida, Alabama, D.C., and Virginia.... I've been back to all those places and they're way more dangerous.
- lihaciudaniel 8y agoReminds me of unabomber's manifesto: being in city causes agitation because of being cramped with thousands